As late as 1837
Donizetti, despite the success of Anna Bolena (1830)
and Lucia di Lamermoor (1835), was still on the treadmill
of writing three or so operas each year. He had hoped for the
post of Director of the Naples Conservatory, but a faction supporting
Mercadante thwarted this prospect. Then his opera Poliuto,
concerning Christian martyrdom in Roman times, was forbidden
a staging in Naples at the personal insistence of the King,
a deeply religious man. Donizetti, still suffering depression
after the death of his wife, determined to go to Paris where
censorship was less of an issue, remuneration far higher and
the musical standards better. He hoped he might follow Rossini’s
example and make enough money to retire from the frustrations
of the theatre.

Matters got off
to a good start in 1840 with his operas being performed in four
Paris theatres to the chagrin of some native composers. The
operas concerned included a French version of Lucia at
the Renaissance Theatre. More importantly he agreed to write
two operas in French for presentation at The Opéra. For the
first he turned to Poliuto and engaged Eugène Scribe
to produce a French text based on Cammarano’s Italian libretto.
Whilst awaiting the ever-dilatory Scribe to complete the new
libretto, Donizetti wrote and presented La Fille du régiment
at the Opéra Comique on 11 February 1840. For the revised
Poliuto he rewrote the recitatives, divided act one in
two and wrote a new finale. The new four-act version was premiered
as Les
Martyrs at The Opéra on 10 March 1840 with the second
work in French, La
favorite, following in December.

Following this stay
in Paris, Donizetti visited Rome and Milan, where he attended
the premiere of Verdi’s Nabucco. Following Adelia
and Maria Padilla in Rome he achieved a huge success
in Vienna with Linda
de Chamounix, premiered at the Vienna Karntnerthor on
19 May 1842 and was appointed Kapellmeister to the Austrian
Court. This appointment allowed him six months leave each year
to pursue his career elsewhere. Things were really going in
the direction Donizetti wanted. Back in Paris, the premiere
of Don Pasquale was a great success at the Théâtre Italien
in 1843 and was followed by Maria de Rohan in Vienna
in June 1844. Whilst in Vienna Donizetti started on the composition
of Dom Sébastien Roi De Portugal, a five act Grand
Opera, including a ballet he had agreed to write for the Paris
Opera. Scribe was the librettist.

The complicated
plot of Dom Sébastienstarts in Lisbon where the
King falls in love with the Muslim princess Zayda. He goes on
an ill-fated war in Morocco where his army is slaughtered by
the troops of her lover, and father’s general, Abayaldos. In
the opera Dom Sébastien and the poet Camoëns, who had
accompanied him, escape with their lives and return to Portugal
to witness the King’s supposed funeral mounted by his uncle
who has usurped the throne. Camoëns promotes a disturbance claiming
the King is alive and is arrested, but Sebastien steps forward
to his defence. The Grand Inquisitor, who has his own agenda
of ceding Portugal to Spain, denounces Sébastien as an impostor
and threatens him with the power of the Inquisition and has
him arrested. In prison, Sébastien is joined by Zayda who hopes
to aid his escape but is denounced and joins him in captivity.
Sébastien is offered the opportunity of freedom if he will renounce
his right to the throne and cede it to Philip II of Spain. In
a weak fifth act he refuses to accept, changes his mind, and
then whilst trying to escape to a boat brought to the prison
by Camoëns, Sébastien and Zayda die as the rope leading them
down from the prison tower is slashed. The opera concludes with
Dom Antonio declaring himself King but the Grand Inquisitor
showing him the document signed by Sébastien ceding the throne
to Philip of Spain.

In my review
of Les martyrs, I note that independent of the quality
of the singing and recording it is the maturity of Donizetti’s
musical creation that is so captivating. It for me indicated
a significant step in compositional development much as Luisa
Miller does in the Verdi oeuvre. Arias extend into duets
and trios with an associated orchestral complexity that marks
a significant development in his compositional style. In Dom
Sébastien the music reaches a further level of sophistication
and complexity albeit there is rather dark patina that derives
from the plot. I had never managed to track down a copy of the
live recording of the 1998 performance at Bergamo with Sabbatini
in the title role and which, my bel canto friend Lew Schneider
informs me, circulates on DVD in America. Accordingly I looked
forward in eager anticipation when I heard of the concert performances
at Covent Garden in September 2005 and that Opera Rara would
be present. Then I feared a slip between cup and lip as I read
that Renato Bruson had withdrawn at short notice in the vital
role of Camoëns and that at the first of the two performances
Simon Keenlyside, as Abayaldos, was suffering from a severe
cold. I need not have worried about Keenlyside who sings strongly
throughout. I was doubtful about the casting of Bruson this
late in his career. Fine actor that he still is, his voice has
lost the bloom that defined him as the finest Donizetti baritone
of his generation twenty or so years ago. Carmelo Corrado Caruso,
who sang the role in the second cast at Bergamo was the chosen
substitute. His rather thin and wavery tone does not do justice
to the important part of Camoëns who gets the one aria from
the work, O Lisbonne, ô ma patria (O Lisbon,
O my fatherland. CD 2 tr.13) that has achieved popularity
outside complete performances. Another Italian, Giuseppe Filianoti,
sings Dom Sébastien with a rather reedy tone and tight top to
his voice. Consequently the unique, for Donizetti, ending of Act
II, with Sébastien's aria Seul sur a terre (CD 2
tr. 10), goes for little. Lew Schneider tells me Giuseppe Sabbatini
sings this memorably in the 1998 Bergamo recording. The best
singing on the male side comes from the British contingent with
Simon Keenlyside’s Abayaldos showing no signs of vocal restriction
or sinus congestion. Equally impressive is the singing of Alastair
Miles as the Grand Inquisitor. I have often found his lean bass
lacking in depth and sonority. In this performance he seems
to find extra colour and an added vocal richness. These Brits,
and those in the comprimario roles not only provide the best
singing but also superior command of French. Although there
are a few native French singers on the international stage it
is a pity none could be found for this performance. It is certainly
a long time since there was a Francophone singer around who
could have tackled the mezzo role of Zayda sung here with dramatic
conviction, good tone, and variable French, by Vesselina Kasarova.
Dramatic conviction and involvement are the virtues also to
be found in the singing of the Chorus of the Royal Opera House
who are both characterful and vibrant and are matched for quality
and commitment by their orchestral counterparts.

Whatever the strengths
and weaknesses of the singing, the fact that the whole holds
together to allow appreciation of Donizetti’s considerable work
is due to Mark Elder on the rostrum. Living near Manchester,
I have come to appreciate his conducting strengths, particularly
in the concert performances of operas and excerpts, since he
took the helm at the Hallé Orchestra. It is a great pity that
our philistine TV channels have not shown the two-part film
on Donizetti that he has made. His conducting of Dom
Sébastien Roi De Portugal on this recording shows
his knowledge and sympathy with the bel canto idiom.
Clearly that sympathy extends to Donizetti’s music equalling
his renowned conducting and knowledge of Verdi. Elder’s conducting
of the act 2 Ballet Music (CD 1 trs. 15-17) is a sheer delight.
Eagle-eared listeners with quality hi-fi equipment will notice
a slight difference in ambience from the rest; a fact explained
by separate sessions and recording venue.

This recording, issued
with the financial support of the Peter Moores Foundation, comes
in the usual Opera Rara quality presentation. This includes a
sturdy folding box outer containing a scholarly essay from Dr
Jeremy Commons, a performance history, a synopsis in three languages
and full libretto with English translation. Unlike the performance
of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, recorded by Opera Rara
after concert performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden,
London in July 2002 (review),
the applause has been edited out; for which I am grateful.

Just when Donizetti’s life seemed to be on the up, the converse
was the case. Like Rossini before him, and Verdi later, he had
his frustrations with The Opéra and also with Scribe the librettist
during the preparations for Dom Sébastien. More importantly,
whilst in Vienna the composer had shown signs of declining health
and during the extensive rehearsals in Paris he was reported
to have exhibited erratic behaviour and flown in to uncontrollable
rages. Nonetheless the production came to fruition, and was
premiered on 13 November 1843. To Donizetti’s frustration Dom
Sébastienwas only modestly received by the Parisian
audience. A revised edition had a better reception in Vienna
the following year. But by then Donizetti’s health was in serious
decline and far from enjoying the fruits of his more recent
successes he became increasingly ill from the effects of tertiary
syphilis, known as general paralysis of the insane. He became
paralysed with the consequent cerebra-spinal degeneration and
was placed in an institution. For the last 17 months of his
life he was paralysed and finally comatose. Dom Sébastien
Roi Du Portugal was his final opera. It is a great epitaph
and shows clear indications as to how the composer might have
responded to the challenge of the emergence of Verdi were it
not for his decline and eventual premature death at the age
of fifty-one.

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